The Best Places to Eat and Do in Washington

Salmon-hued chairs, tufted banquettes, and marble tables beside a leafy patio give this French-leaning restaurant inside the Dupont Circle Hotel the feel of a very expensive terrarium. The menu drifts happily from lobster bisque to lamb tagine without apologizing for the range, which means the table next to yours is probably ordering something completely different and looking smug about it.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Enrique Limardo of Imperfecto keeps the room deliberately calm, all cream, beige, and light wood inside the Ritz-Carlton, so the Spanish-meets-Latin-American food has nowhere to hide. Tapas and small plates anchor the menu, with a whole section devoted to rice dishes, including a pink beet-stained arroz tucked with roasted vegetables and fava beans that earns its page. Mains run meat-forward and come sized for the table.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The half-and-half order is the move here, letting you split between red, white, and green sauce pies at this Neapolitan pizza spot on Upshur. It's first-come, first-serve, no reservations, and the to-go stack never seems to shrink. The crust has that blistered char that signals a kitchen paying attention, and the toppings lean creative without tipping into stunt food. A reliably packed neighborhood hangout with a Michelin Guide selection to its name.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A Neapolitan pizza restaurant a few miles from Arlington Cemetery, run by the same Sicilian family for close to half a century. The pies follow STG rules, meaning a pillowy, charred crust, properly melty cheese, and a lot of the ingredients shipped over from Italy. The room skews elegant for a pizza place, and the menu stretches well past pizza into pastas and starters, with a wine list that takes itself seriously.

1. 50 Top Pizza #37 · 50 Top Pizza USA

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

Twelve seats, a polycultural farm and vineyard outside the city, and ceramic dishes thrown from clay dug on the property: the scene is set before the food even arrives. Chef Tae Strain runs a tasting menu where the farm supplies much of what lands on the counter, with Korean-inflected technique quietly threading through each course. The New York Times put it on their 2026 Restaurant List, and the Burnt Hill wines poured between courses are made right outside the window.

1. The New York Times 2026 · The Restaurant List

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Scott Drewno and Danny Lee - Fried Rice Collective

A cave à manger on 17th Street where you order at a counter, find somewhere to stand, and immediately wish there were chairs. The menu is Mediterranean-Italian, the wine selection leans natural, and the kitchen behind it all has DNA from Komi, the couple's storied tasting room. Griddled pita and olives are constants; a Japanese sweet potato with koji butter somehow fits right in. The ice cream flavors, polenta-cassis among them, suggest nobody here makes easy choices.

1. Washingtonian #7 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
2. Washingtonian Cacio e Pepe Bomboloni · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
2. Washingtonian Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

The mahjong lounge in back tells you everything about the vibe at this Penn Quarter American Chinese sit-down. The menu runs from crab rangoon spiked with Old Bay to mapo tofu that takes the spice seriously, and the Chongqing chicken arrives buried in chilies as a statement of intent. Fresh noodles and leek fondue give the lo mein a comfort-food pull that's hard to argue with. Fun, loud, and not pretending to be anything else.

1. Washingtonian #21 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
2. Washingtonian Crab Rangoon · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area
3. Washingtonian Where to Eat Near the National Mall

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
2. Washingtonian Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
2. Washingtonian Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. Eater Design of the Year

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
2. Washingtonian Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. Time Out #10 · Best restaurants in Washington, D.C.

1. Time Out #10 · Best restaurants in Washington, D.C.

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. Time Out #5 · Best restaurants in Washington, D.C.

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. Esquire Classic Martini · The Best Martinis in America
2. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

1. AAA Approved

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.

1. Eater The Best Bakeries Around D.C.

The gougères come with a side of Comté fondue, because why not gild the lily twice. Barbouzard is a glitzy Southern French dining room from Cédric Maupillier, and it reads more Riviera than Washington, which is the whole point. The deconstructed bouillabaisse and plancha scallops in curry sauce show a chef having fun with the format. At lunch, the K Street crowd fills in around a brisk prix fixe that moves fast enough to make a noon reservation feel civilized.

1. Washingtonian Scallops a la Plancha · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area
2. Washingtonian #71 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

Lamb and chicken skewers come off the coals heavy with cumin at this Uyghur restaurant tucked into an Arlington strip mall. The skewers are the draw, but the menu around them pulls equal weight: flat noodles in tart red broth, cold noodles sparked with chili oil, and a beef-and-onion stuffed flatbread that regulars tend to order twice. The New York Times named it one of D.C.'s 25 best restaurants.

1. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Washington, D.C., Right Now

1. Eater The Best Bakeries Around D.C.

The onion soup follows Julia Child's recipe and nobody has touched it, which tells you something about the kitchen's instincts. This casually elegant French bistro in Sterling plays with the classics just enough, turning tuna tartare into something that reads like steak, serving Brie crispy, while leaving the soul of the thing intact. The Washingtonian named that tartare one of their favorite DC-area dishes of the year.

1. Washingtonian Tuna Tartare · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area
2. Washingtonian #91 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

The six bakers here clock in at 3:30 a.m. to supply Le Diplomate's bread program, and the public gets to buy the same loaves from a 100-square-foot alley shop tucked into the Union Market district. It's a tiny bakery with a serious output: baguettes, multigrain levain, cranberry walnut boules, viennoiserie, and a rotating cast of specialty breads, plus local jams and honey to take home with them.

1. Eater The Best Bakeries Around D.C.

1. Washingtonian Best Coffee Shops in DC

1. Eater The 15 Best Coffee Shops Around D.C.

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

1. Washingtonian Best Coffee Shops in DC

The "clam" dip is made from tofu, the fried fish contains no fish, and somehow none of that feels like a compromise. This vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church is where the chef makes her own faux meats and seafoods from scratch, turning lemongrass noodle soup and papaya salad into fully convincing arguments that the meat was never the point. Devout carnivores tend to figure this out about halfway through the meal.

1. Washingtonian #41 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.

Hand-pressed tortillas made with nixtamalized heirloom corn anchor the menu at this contemporary Mexican restaurant in Takoma Park, where vegan-friendly cooking doesn't mean compromising on ambition. Tres moles fill the enchiladas, cashew cheese goes into the quesadillas, and the bar runs inventive mezcal and rum cocktails alongside margaritas. Brunch draws a crowd too. The team recently moved into sleeker new digs up Carroll Ave, and the upgrade shows.

1. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants Around D.C.

1. Time Out The 20 Best Coffee Shops and Cafés in Washington, DC

1. Time Out The 20 Best Coffee Shops and Cafés in Washington, DC

1. Time Out The 20 Best Coffee Shops and Cafés in Washington, DC

1. Time Out The 20 Best Coffee Shops and Cafés in Washington, DC

1. Time Out The 20 Best Coffee Shops and Cafés in Washington, DC

1. Eater The 15 Best Coffee Shops Around D.C.

1. Time Out The 20 Best Coffee Shops and Cafés in Washington, DC

1. Washingtonian Best Coffee Shops in DC

1. Eater The 15 Best Coffee Shops Around D.C.

1. Washingtonian Fried Tamal de Elote · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area
2. Washingtonian #99 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.

1. Washingtonian Best Coffee Shops in DC

1. Eater The Best Bakeries Around D.C.

1. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants Around D.C.

A taco trailer parked at a Shell station in Rockville, where the chef mills his own masa on-site and builds the whole menu around it. Tacos, tostadas, and triangular tetelas stuffed with refried beans come out of an operation this small with a focus you'd expect from somewhere twice the size. The chef trained in Oaxaca, grew up in Montgomery County, and clearly has something to prove about corn.

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.

1. Washingtonian #28 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. Time Out The 20 Best Coffee Shops and Cafés in Washington, DC

The kitchen counter of this Japanese rowhouse izakaya seats you close enough to watch the grillwork happen in real time. The menu runs to sashimi, grilled collars, and hand-doodled specials that change on a whim, sake descriptions written for humans rather than sommeliers, and on Tuesday nights the upstairs flips into a natural-wine bar that hospitality workers seem to have claimed as their unofficial break room.

1. Washingtonian #40 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

Pork belly rolled tight with lemongrass and garlic, skin so crisp a fork won't crack it on the first try: that's the draw at this fast-casual Filipino counter in a Rockville strip mall. The lechon belly comes in sandwiches with atchara, over rice, or paired with other meats from the chef's rotation. Save room for desserts from the pastry shop run by his sister next door. The New York Times put it on its D.C. restaurant list, which tracks.

1. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Washington, D.C., Right Now

Edible flowers scattered across the rolls give away that this Georgetown sushi spot isn't playing it straight. Tucked into Cady's Alley, Kyojin is the flashier sibling of an Arlington raw fish staple, with a full kitchen that lets the Bangkok-born chef push into hot izakaya territory alongside the maki. Truffle wasabi and torched wagyu over uni are the kinds of details that either excite you or make you very tired, depending on the day.

1. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants Around D.C.

1. Time Out #18 · Best restaurants in Washington, D.C.

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

Fewer than twenty seats, one chef, seven courses, and a kitchen so quiet you can hear the thinking. Nasime is an intimate Japanese tasting room in Old Town Alexandria where the Ginza-trained team runs a set menu that moves through seasons rather than trends. The pacing is unhurried, the combinations are precise, and the sashimi course arrives with a buzz-button flower that earns its spot on the plate.

1. Washingtonian #12 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.